List of current world boxing champions
At least since John L. Sullivan, in the late 19th century, there have been world boxing champions. The first of today's organizations to award a world title was the World Boxing Association, known as the National Boxing Association when it sanctioned its first title fight in 1921 between Jack Dempsey and Georges Carpentier for the heavyweight championship. There are now four major sanctioning bodies in professional boxing. The official rules and regulations of the World Boxing Association, World Boxing Council, International Boxing Federation and World Boxing Organization all recognize the other three major sanctioning bodies in their rankings and title unification rules. Each of these organizations sanction and regulate championship bouts and award championships. American boxing magazine The Ring began awarding world championship belts in 1922. There are seventeen weight divisions. To compete in a weight class, a boxer's weight must not exceed the upper limit. Manny Pacquiao has won world championships in eight different weight classes, more than any other boxer. The Klitschko brothers, Vitali and Wladimir, hold all five major titles in the heavyweight division. They are the first brothers to hold versions of the heavyweight championship at the same time. Championships When a champion, for reasons beyond his control such as an illness or injury, is unable to defend his title within the normal mandatory time, the sanctioning bodies may order an interim title bout and award the winner an interim championship. The WBA and WBC may change the status of their inactive champions to Champion in Recess. World Boxing Association The World Boxing Association (WBA) was founded in 1921 as the National Boxing Association (NBA)—a national regulating body of the United States. On August 23, 1962, the NBA became the WBA, which today has its head office in Panama. According to WBA championship rules, when a champion holds a title of one of the other three major sanctioning bodies in an equivalent weight class, the boxer is granted special recognition: he is called the unified champion and is given more time between mandatory title defences. The WBA Championships Committee and President may designate a champion as a Super Champion in exceptional circumstances. The WBA title is vacated if it is one of the titles the respective boxer holds. When a WBA champion makes between five and ten successful defences, he may be granted the WBA "Super" title upon discretion of a vote of the WBA's board of governors. World Boxing Council The World Boxing Council (WBC) was founded in Mexico City, Mexico on February 14, 1963 in order to establish an international regulating body. The WBC established many of today's safety measures in boxing, such as the standing eight-count, a limit of 12 rounds instead of 15, and additional weight classes. To read about the WBC's Diamond and Emeritus Champions, please see the separate article about the WBC. International Boxing Federation The International Boxing Federation (IBF) originated in September 1976 as the United States Boxing Association (USBA) when American members of the WBA withdrew in order to legitimize boxing in the United States with "unbiased" ratings. In April 1983, the organization established an international division that was known as the United States Boxing Association-International (USBA-I). In May 1984, the New Jersey-based USBA-I was renamed and became the IBF. World Boxing Organization The World Boxing Organization (WBO) was founded in San Juan, Puerto Rico (which is a self-governing commonwealth of the United States) in 1988. Its motto is "dignity, democracy, honesty." When a WBO champion has reached "preeminent status" the WBO's Executive Committee may designate him as a "Super Champion". Besides the beltholders that are called "Super Champion", there are other fighters that have been named "WBO Super Champion" like Bernard Hopkins, Joe Calzaghe, Kelly Pavlik, Óscar De La Hoya, Manny Pacquiao, Juan Díaz, Marco Antonio Barrera, Fernando Montiel, Jorge Arce, Iván Calderón. The WBO championships are not universally recognized. Some media sites do not include the WBO in their list of champions, but others do. On December 8, 2012, Juan Manuel Márquez has been named "Fighter of the Decade" by the WBO and was awarded a special belt when beating Manny Pacquiao by KO within six rounds. The Ring The Ring is a respected boxing magazine that was founded in 1922, upon which it first began awarding world championship belts. It maintains its own version of lineal championships in each weight class. Title belts ceased to be awarded in the 1990s, but the practice was resumed in 2002. From 2002 onwards, a championship system was created with the intention to "reward fighters who, by satisfying rigid criteria, can justify a claim as the true and only world champion in a given weight class." The Ring claims to be more authoritative and open than that of the sanctioning bodies with regards to rankings, with a page devoted to full explanations for ranking changes. A fighter pays no sanctioning fees to defend or fight for the title at stake, contrary to practices of the sanctioning bodies. There are currently three ways that a fighter can win The Ring's title: *Defeat the reigning champion *Win a bout between The Ring's #1 and #2 contenders *If the #1 and #2 contenders chose not to fight each other, if either of them fights the #3, #4 or #5 contender, the winner may be awarded The Ring title belt if the Editorial Board deems the contenders worthy. Current champions The current champions in each weight class are listed below as of , . Heavyweight (200+ lb, 90.7+ kg) |align="center"|Anthony Joshua |align="center"|Deontay Wilder |align="center"|Anthony Joshua |align="center"|Anthony Joshua |align="center"|'Vacant' Cruiserweight, Junior heavyweight (200 lb, 90.7 kg) |align="center"|'Vacant' |align="center"|Oleksandr Usyk |align="center"|Oleksandr Usyk |align="center"|Oleksandr Usyk |align="center"|Oleksandr Usyk Light heavyweight (175 lb, 79.4 kg) |align="center"|Dmitry Bivol |align="center"|Oleksandr Gvozdyk |align="center"|Artur Beterbiev |align="center"|Sergey Kovalev |align="center"|'Vacant' Super middleweight (168 lb, 76.2 kg) |align="center"|Callum Smith |align="center"|Anthony Dirrell |align="center"|Caleb Plant |align="center"|Billy Joe Saunders |align="center"|'Vacant' Middleweight (160 lb, 72.6 kg) |align="center"|Canelo Álvarez |align="center"|Jermall Charlo |align="center"|Canelo Álvarez |align="center"|Demetrius Andrade |align="center"|'Vacant' Super welterweight, Junior middleweight (154 lb, 69.9 kg) |align="center"|Julian Williams |align="center"|Tony Harrison |align="center"|Julian Williams |align="center"|Jaime Munguia |align="center"|'Vacant' Welterweight (147 lb, 66.7 kg) |align="center"|Manny Pacquiao |align="center"|Shawn Porter |align="center"|Errol Spence Jr. |align="center"|Terence Crawford |align="center"|'Vacant' Super lightweight, Junior welterweight (140 lb, 63.5 kg) |align="center"|Regis Prograis |align="center"|Jose Ramirez |align="center"|Josh Taylor |align="center"|Maurice Hooker |align="center"|'Vacant' Lightweight (135 lb, 61.2 kg) |align="center"|Vasiliy Lomachenko |align="center"|'Vacant' |align="center"|Richard Commey |align="center"|Vasiliy Lomachenko |align="center"|Vasiliy Lomachenko Super featherweight, Junior lightweight (130 lb, 59 kg) |align="center"|Gervonta Davis |align="center"|Miguel Berchelt |align="center"|Tevin Farmer |align="center"|Masayuki Ito |align="center"|'Vacant' Featherweight (126 lb, 57.2 kg) |align="center"|Leo Santa Cruz |align="center"|Gary Russell Jr. |align="center"|Josh Warrington |align="center"|Oscar Valdez |align="center"|'Vacant' Super bantamweight, Junior featherweight (122 lb, 55.3 kg) |align="center"|Daniel Roman |align="center"|Rey Vargas |align="center"|Daniel Roman |align="center"|Emanuel Navarrete |align="center"|'Vacant' Bantamweight (118 lb, 53.5 kg) |align="center"|Nonito Donaire |align="center"|Nordine Oubaali |align="center"|Naoya Inoue |align="center"|Zolani Tete |align="center"|'Vacant' Super flyweight, Junior bantamweight (115 lb, 52.2 kg) |align="center"|Khalid Yafai |align="center"|Juan Francisco Estrada |align="center"|Jerwin Ancajas |align="center"|'Vacant' |align="center"|'Vacant' Flyweight (112 lb, 50.8 kg) |align="center"|Artem Dalakian |align="center"|Charlie Edwards |align="center"|Moruti Mthalane |align="center"|Kosei Tanaka |align="center"|'Vacant' Light flyweight, Junior flyweight (108 lb, 49 kg) |align="center"|Hiroto Kyoguchi |align="center"|Ken Shiro |align="center"|Felix Alvarado |align="center"|Elwin Soto |align="center"|'Vacant' Minimumweight, Strawweight, Mini flyweight (105 lb, 47.6 kg) |align="center"|Knockout CP Freshmart |align="center"|Wanheng Menayothin |align="center"|DeeJay Kriel |align="center"|Vic Saludar |align="center"|'Vacant' See also * Weight class (boxing) * ''Ring Magazine'' pound for pound References ;Specific ;General * * * * * * External links *ESPN.com Current Boxing Champions World champions, current Boxing champions, world *